


DogTales

by KimboKah



Category: Backstreet Boys
Genre: Animal Transformation, Dramedy, Family, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-04
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-04-07 15:32:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4268625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KimboKah/pseuds/KimboKah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Join Baylee in the search for answers from his father on an epic journey. Accompanied by Nick and a very strange canine, things are bound to go wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In Which Jason and Baylee dump their Bodyguard and Start a Fire

1\.   
  
As he and Jason tried to ignore the large, not to say giant, bodyguard shadowing them, they walked in silence. Mostly. The edge of Atlanta was not far now and it had to happen quick. Baylee and Jason were masters in ‘quick’. They were both small for their age and sometimes very hard to spot in huge crowds, so ‘quick’ came almost as a second nature to the two friends.   
  
“Now?” Jason whispered, his eyes straining to look at his companion a few feet behind him.  
  
“Now!” Baylee confirmed and they ducked, swirling agilely through the mass of everyday grocery people and running as fast as they could towards the darker alleys of the city. Ha! Like he was scared here! Not a chance!  
  
He and Jason both had taken karate lessons, it was actually how they’d met, so basically, they were prepared for anything. Of course with a giant bodyguard like Richard near, karate seemed kind of wasted money, so what harm was there in a little escape plan?   
  
“Hey, you think we’ll run in to some alligators in that swamp?” Jason questioned.  
  
“That’d be awesome,” his friend answered with a sadistic grin. “I’mma feed you to them first, so I can run,” he added grimly.  
  
Jason rolled his eyes, knowing his friend wouldn’t even be able to hurt a fly, much less an alligator, so the real question was who was going to feed who. “Just try, see what happens,” he challenged and Baylee raised his eyebrows, mockingly accepting the bet.  
  
“My pleasure.”  
  
“So where are we going exactly?” Jason demanded not for the first time that evening.  
  
“I told you, to the swamp,” Baylee replied.  
  
“I know that, dipshit, anything specific you wanna do out there, besides feeding the crocs?”  
  
Baylee decided not to answer that question directly, instead he looked over his shoulder hurriedly, “You think we lost him?”  
  
“I don’t… hey, you didn’t answer me!” Jason exclaimed, standing still.  
  
“It’s about the plan, asshole! Remember the plan, Jase? Stick to the plan!”  
  
Jason didn’t know much about the plan, but Baylee figured he knew enough. He’d told his friend, and only his friend about how he felt about his life lately, and Jason had wonderfully understood most of it. It must have had something to do with knowing the kid for most of his life. It had been the only constancy in his life, accept for his parents and the band. Also, Baylee was fairly sure that someday, Jason would make one hell of a shrink.   
  
They didn’t say much for the rest of the walk through the city. Baylee was sure now they’d dumped Richard somewhere in the centre and his confidence about this whole thing peaked once more as they came nearer and nearer to the edge. At this point, they could already kind of smell the stinking swamp that began directly after the high building to their right. He felt his phone vibrate vigorously in his jeans pocket, but knew better than to pick it up. He’d dare to bet all his money on it being Richard that was calling. The bodyguard could wait. Baylee would give him a call once they were done with the plan. Nobody had to know where they were going exactly, as far as he was concerned.  
  
As long as they didn’t get lost. That would be one hell of a stunt. He could already read the newspapers titles. People got lost in these swamps every week and not a word about them. But no, Baylee was already guaranteed the front page, of course. Just one more reason why this needed to be done.  
  
At the edge of the humid swamps, he turned on his heels and looked up at Jason, who was only just one inch taller than him. It was time, he decided.  
  
“Jase?” he began, looking his friend questioningly and importantly in the eye, ”you ever heard ‘bout the Valdir swamps’ truth?”   
  
“Course, it’s where you go when you want things to be done… certain things… but… no… you don’t really believe that, do you? It’s just a myth, Bay!” Jason exclaimed laughing, throwing his hands in the air for effect.  
  
“Dude! I know! But… wouldn’t it be fun to try?” Baylee questioned challengingly.   
  
“And then what? What are you gonna ask them?”   
  
Baylee didn’t answer, just stared at his friend, a small grin forming.  
  
“No!” Jason said, “No man, that’s just… wrong…”  
  
“Who cares? He started it!” Baylee replied heatedly, “I mean, if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have to live like this!”  
  
“We talked about this! If it wasn’t for him, you wouldn’t ‘live’ at all!”  
  
“Arrgh, you don’t know what it’s like, Jase! Always that ‘oh, aren’t you that kid of the Backstreet Boy?’ or ‘oh my Goodness, he looks just like him, how cute!’ I wanna be my own man, damn it! Is it really that hard to understand?”  
  
“I just think you’re taking this a little too far, just chill out man.”  
  
“Look, if you don’t wanna come, don’t!” Baylee yelled, confidently stamping into the swamp.  
  
“And leave your sorry-ass all by itself?” Jason replied, hurrying to catch up with his friend.   
  
Their destination lay almost in the middle of the swamps. It wasn’t hard to reach, all they had to do was making sure they didn’t get stuck in the sopping ground and walk straight ahead. But if Mom could see him like this, she’d freak out, that much was for certain. He’d never hear the end of it. That’s why they had to be fast. Before Richard would call his mother, or God forbid, his father. Dad would surely tear him a new one, he’d be mad as hell, but Baylee thought that was just hypocritical. Like Dad had never run away, in fact, lately it was all that he was doing, so what harm was there in taking a trip with Jason into the swamps?   
  
They’d be back before dinner.  
  
The wide open space in the swamp was remarkable, even if there hadn’t been the tallest tree he’d ever seen in the middle of the area. The ground here was more solid than it had been at the edge and for a moment they stood still, just taking it all in. The place had something, something sanctuary and it was hard to take the few steps towards the tree, as if they were invading some kind of holy land. For a place this legendary, not many tourist came here, almost none.   
  
Probably had to do with the ‘curse’. Baylee still had to laugh whenever he read or even thought about that.  
  
Curse. Right. There was no curse, it was just a swamp with a really tall tree in the middle.  
  
Curse… ha!  
  
And just to prove his point, Baylee and Jason were now here. Or that was what he kept telling himself. Because somewhere, in some hidden, dark teenager part of him, he wanted this to work.  
  
Afraid to break the solemn silence, Jason first looked nervously at him for a while before speaking. “So, what are we supposed to do now?”  
  
The real answer to that was that Baylee had no idea, but Jason wasn’t supposed to know that. “It’s about transformation, Jase,” he whispered patiently.  
  
“So?”  
  
“So? Transform something!”  
  
“How?”  
  
Baylee thought about that for a minute, then a sudden, rather brilliant if he said so himself, idea sprang to mind, “We burn something!”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Look, if you burn something, it becomes a different element, right?” he waited for Jason to nod before continuing, “so burning is transformation! See, that’s why I’m the brains and you’re just the muscle.”  
  
Jason didn’t necessarily agree with that, but decided to let it go for now, “What do ya wanna burn, Einstein?”  
  
“We’re in the woods, right? How hard can it be?”  
  
They went to find a handful of rotten branches, and some moss while they were at it. It had to be done perfectly. Solemnly, Baylee held up the lighter he carried with him secretly. Just another thing Mom and Dad would freak out about. The branches burnt like they had been destined to.   
  
“Now what?” Jason whispered.  
  
“Ssh!” Baylee hushed him, more than a little caught up in the fire. Mesmerized, he stared into the small flames, knowing the words by heart now, but still a little afraid that he’d do it wrong. His heart had picked up speed and was beating insanely fast now, to the point he thought he might faint if he moved one more inch. Swallowing thickly, he cleared his throat.  
  
“Behold, great Valdir, we ask you for the truth!” he spoke in a voice that sounded much more grown up than he had thought possible. His voice had been on the verge of changing this year and the grown up voice sounded way too much like his Dad’s for his liking.   
  
Especially Nick teased him about that fact. “We ask for transformation!” he said loudly as he scattered a few of his father’s greying hairs he’d brought with him into the fire. This was going to work, he could almost feel it.  
  
He’d show his Dad what it was like to be in someone’s shadow.  
  
Or so he thought.


	2. In Which Baylee Gets Grounded and Dad doesn't Care

When he came home, Mom was pissed. He wasn’t very interested in what she had to say though, as he quickly began the search for his father.

“Where’s Dad?” he questioned.

“You are not even listening to me Baylee Littrell!” Mom exclaimed frustratingly.

“Yeah yeah, I know, I won’t ditch Richard again, alright? I promise,” Baylee replied patiently, looking at his mother as innocently as he could for someone who’d just stomped through the swamp and performed the ritual of Transformation on his father.

“You know, if this was the first time, I’d believe that promise, but I can’t even count all the times you’ve dumped Richard in the city,” Mom announced as she walked towards the kitchen angrily. Only Mom could walk angrily like that.

“Then maybe you guys should look for another bodyguard,” Baylee answered sweetly. His mother turned around, glaring. Baylee smiled knowingly. It wasn’t like bodyguards were growing on trees and it was only a matter of time before Richard would quit the job and they had to look for yet another bodyguard. And not most security jumped at the chance of guarding a spoilt 13-year old.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, looking at the ground, waiting for his Mom to melt.

“I know sweetie, but you can’t keep doing this. For all I know you were smoking pot with that Jason-kid. You’re grounded.”

“We weren’t smoking…” Baylee began, but quickly closed his mouth, cause it wasn’t like he could actually explain what they _had_ been doing instead, compared to that, smoking pot seemed like just a little prank, “how long?” he murmured defeated.

“Two weeks.”

“Fair,” Baylee told her quietly. “Where’s Dad?”

“Where do you think?” Mom sighed.

Baylee’s eyes lit up as he figured it out. “Right,” he said as he took off. Faintly he heard his Mom ordering him to stay in the house. He sprinted to the studio in the basement at top speed, trying to tell himself to calm down, that it most likely hadn’t worked, that it was indeed just a myth. He reached the door, steeled himself and stepped inside.

His heart sank as he saw his father sitting at the panel, studying something that looked like a new lyric sheet, oblivious to his son that had come in without announcement.

“You’re still here,” Baylee began, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice, but knowing he failed at that.

Dad turned slowly on the desk chair, facing him. “And you’re here too, surprisingly,” he mumbled, returning his gaze back to the sheet.

“I was missing,” Baylee countered.

“I know.”

“And you don’t even care!”

“Oh I do, believe me,” Dad spoke.

But Baylee didn’t believe him. Angrily he snatched the sheet out of his father’s hands. Dad looked up, his eyes turning dark in anger. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kick you out,” he growled. People didn’t know it, but Dad was a pro at growling. Baylee didn’t budge though.

“I was missing! Mom grounded me because she thought we were smoking pot, and you don’t even care where I was!”

“Were you smoking pot?” Dad asked incredulously in a monotone voice.

“No! of course not! But that’s not the point!”Baylee yelled in frustration, “The point is, you don’t care where I was!”

“Where were you?” Dad questioned finally.

“I’m not telling you!”

His father threw up his hands in defeat, “Look, I know you’re growing up now, and that you sometimes need some time on your own to hang with your friends, and although ditching a bodyguard isn’t the smartest thing to do, I know I was just like you when I was your age.”

“What if I don’t wanna be like you?”

Dad didn’t answer and instead pointed at the sheet grasped in his son’s hand, “Can I have that back now?”

Glaring, Baylee threw the sheet at his father before storming out.

 


	3. In Which Keeko Talks and Brian Eats Potato Chips

_Four days earlier._  
  
Brian sat down, scoffing incredulously as his son’s footsteps fled the basement. He had no idea what had gotten into the kid, or Keeko, for that matter, who had returned to crawling under the desk the best she could, just like she’d done when he’d found her. Although he could tell something strange was going on, he didn’t quite understand what it was. His vision seemed compromised, only distinguishing yellow and brown colors. He’d decided that this was the worst hangover he’d experienced in quite a while. He felt kind of funny walking too, and the smells… dear Lord, the smells were literally everywhere.  
  
“Stay back!” A tiny voice said and Brian turned his head, frowning. He was sure there was no one else in the cramped room besides him and Keeko… so…  
This day had started out really strange, and it had only just begun too. He’d woken up, had seen Keeko, who was practically frozen in shock. Had tried to calm her down. And then his son had walked in, nearly in the same state as the Maltese. Was he missing something here?   
  
“Stay back! Please, don’t eat me!”   
  
What the fuck?  
  
It came from under the desk and when Brian bent down, he could see Keeko’s shaking form staring back at him.   
  
The small dog squealed pathetically, pressing herself a little further back into the wall.   
  
“G-get back!” the Maltese wheezed and Brian’s mouth dropped open.  
  
Keeko talked.  
  
Keeko. The dog he’d brought home from Japan years ago.   
  
It talked. Why did it talk?  
  
He blinked a few times and shook his head, trying to clear the strange haze that had accumulated in his mind. Stay away from the liquor next time, Brian, he told himself.   
  
“Stay away, I said!” Keeko growled at him and he tilted his head, wondering if he should say anything back.   
  
Sure, he talked to his dogs all the time, but he wasn’t used to them saying anything back.  
  
“Keeko?” he stammered in confusion.  
  
“You know my name. Why you know my name, wolf?” the small dog replied defensively.  
  
“Y-you’re my dog…” Brian said uneasily.  
  
This made Keeko pause for a second. “I’m not your dog, wolf,” she said eventually.  
  
“What are calling me ‘wolf’ for?” Brian asked, feeling more and more confused as the seconds passed by. Keeko observed him intently for a few moments, not understanding.  
  
“I know wolf when I see wolf,” she replied eventually.  
  
“I’m not a w-” Brian started, looking down; then jumped up in shock. “What the hell is happening?” he yelled, panicking. His hands looked like white paws, the nails loudly tapping the wooden floor as he stomped down a few times. He turned around, bumping into a few boxes on his left. He felt his heart almost stop when he looked at the reflection in the mirror. The wolf that stared back was almost entirely white, with only a stripe of colour that ran from the top of its head to the end of the tail. His eyes were unusually blue and whenever Brian raised his hand, the reflection would raise its paw.   
  
This was beyond insane.  
  
Brian tried to look back over his shoulder, stunned by the large white tail that carelessly swept into a pile of lyric sheets, scattering them all over the confined office space.   
  
He must be hallucinating.  
  
“What are you doing, wolf?” Keeko’s voice cautiously asked. Keeko’s voice. It became stranger the longer he considered it.   
  
“I’m not a wolf!” Brian snapped, “I’m Brian!”  
  
Keeko narrowed her stare, then took a tentative forward, “Very funny, wolf,” she growled, “Brian is man.”  
  
“I am a man!” Brian exclaimed, wondering who the hell had drugged him.   
  
“You look like wolf,” Keeko concluded seriously. “I know wolf when I see wolf. I don’t like wolf.”  
  
“I didn’t ask for this!” Brian countered in frustration, not caring that he was basically involved in a heated discussion with his Maltese.   
  
“Wolf don’t wanna be wolf?” Keeko asked in confusion, slowly but surely finding the courage to come out of her hiding spot under the desk. “You strange wolf.”  
  
“I am not a w-” Brian sighed, deciding it was no use. Keeko wouldn’t believe him unless he had proof.   
  
Curiosity seemed to get the better of the small Maltese though as she peeked her head out from under the desk.   
  
Brian studied her for a minute, “You can come on out, I’m not gonna eat you.”  
  
“Wolf not hungry?” Keeko asked.  
  
“No,” Brian grumbled, feeling his stomach growl in response.  
  
“You strange wolf,” Keeko repeated, finally crawling out from under the desk.  
  
“You can say that again,” Brian said absent-mindedly, looking at the door. “We should get out.”  
  
Keeko let out a sound that sounded a bit like a laugh, “Can’t open door, wolf. Human closed it.”  
  
“You don’t know that unless you tried,” Brian muttered the phrase he’d said to his son a billion of times. “We just have to find a way,” he said, pushing one of the desk chairs towards the door with his nose. The chair smelled of sweat and chewing gum, he realized. Once he was sure the chair was solidly pressed against the wall, he jumped up on it, trying to keep his balance as the chair turned with his momentum. He was well aware of Keeko’s eyes following his every move as he pressed one of his paws against the door handle. Closed.  
  
Baylee had locked him in here.  
  
He felt a spark of anger coursing through him before realizing that for all Baylee was aware of, there was a wild wolf in the studio. He snorted, a low growl that could only be of an animal escaping his mouth.   
  
Thankfully, underneath the door handle was a knob that could unlock the door from the inside out. He grinned to himself, but felt his confidence slowly drain away when he realized that his paws could not physically turn the knob. Narrowing his eyes at the thing, he decided that this was the time for some desperate measures. Yet, after having attacked the door knob several times with his teeth, Brian decided that doors were solely something that humans could handle.   
  
“Goddamnit.”  
  
Defeated, he slowly got off the chair and sat on the floor. He started to wonder if Baylee would be brave enough to come back to the basement and rescue his dog.   
  
What if Leighanne came down here? She would probably call the police; have him killed without knowing better. His heart hammering in his throat, he started to pace back and forth, irritated by the constant clicking of his nails on the wooden floor. The studio was soundproof; there was no way anyone could ever hear them down here. He relented a bit in the fact that his wife usually didn’t come here if she knew he wasn’t here. His stomach growled again and the smell of the potato chips that were hidden away in one of the desk’s drawers was so strong, it almost drove him automatically. Grabbing the drawer with strong jaws, he was glad to know he could at least open something.   
  
Standing awkwardly on his hind legs, he rummaged through the drawer until he found what he’d been looking for.  
  
Keeko gasped when he turned around with the bag of chips in his mouth. Her eyes widened and he could practically see the saliva streaming out of her small mouth. He dropped the bag and took a step back, studying it thoughtfully. “Now how do we open this?” he muttered.  
  
Keeko squealed softly, overcome with the desire of having a full bag of potato chips to their disposal, but not being able to eat it because it was the wolf’s food. “Rip it, rip it,” she said quickly.  
  
Brian frowned at the uncivilized thought of having to destroy a bag of chips with his teeth, inevitably scattering the whole studio floor with the food from the force, but his hunger was greater now and before he knew what he was doing, the bag was back in his mouth and he shook his head wildly to break it open. It didn’t take long before chips flew in every direction and Keeko gave an agonized yelp full of longing. Brian didn’t pay her attention, immediately chowing down on the potato snacks, growling in warning when Keeko came closer. The small Maltese immediately shrunk back, deciding to let the wolf finish first. Most of the chips was gone now and Brian realized that he’d never eaten anything this quick in his life. He saw Keeko quivering underneath the desk and took a step away from her, more than a little disturbed how his instinct had completely taken over once he was hungry.  
  
He wasn’t a wolf.  
  
He shouldn’t be acting like one either.   
  
He sighed, curling up after jumping on the desk. He closed his eyes, but opened them again when he heard Keeko whimper in desperation. “Go on,” he murmured.   
  
Keeko squealed, immediately reappearing from under the desk and licking up what little remained of the potato chips. “Thank you, wolf.”  
  
“I’m not a wolf.”  
  
“Okay.”  
  
Brian rolled his eyes, moving around to see if he could get a comfortable enough position on the desk. “How do dogs even do this?” he wondered, grumbling as he put his head on his front legs and sighed in resignation.   
  
When Keeko was finished eating, Brian saw her disappear underneath the desk again. He shook his head, wondering when Baylee would return. He would have to have a serious conversation with that child once he came back.


End file.
